Sorry for the quietness around what's been going on but since Sherlock passed away its been difficult to concentrate on what to update on, but there are a few things that have happened over the past couple of weeks, which has been mainly positive!
14th July 2025
Had my second "leak" test where they check how well you are swallowing, the last one wasn't so good as I had a hole into my jaw and an airway aspiration, so it failed 😝
This time around was much better, the hole had healed and my airway aspiration was much less to the extent the radiographer thought it would be fine. So then it was just a waiting game until the 24th (see below) when I had my appointment with Prof. Winter
Been having a few friends drop in which has been really lovely and so nice to see people and have a chat, you know who you are and thank you, I really appreciate the time and effort you have put in to come and see me so thank you I really appreciate it.
18th July 2025
Picked up Sherlocks ashes today, and it just bring's back all the emotions of losing a good friend, very upsetting and the thought really comes home that he is no longer around, I miss him so much everyday and I think his bro & sis do as well, the house has been so quiet. He was a big presence, but he is home now and we'll ensure he rests in peace.
Also, had a catch up with my GP, which was really useful and he upped my paracetamol and suggested a few other things to sort out my bowels
24th July 2025
Off to the Churchill Hospital and the Blenheim Head & Neck outpatients for my appointment with Prof. Winter, as usual they check your height and weight, and from my peak weight I am 8kgs lighter so not to bad that anyone is going to look a piling more calories down me with these shit shakes you have to take - on that subject my diet now consists of shakes and drugs!
7 shakes 125ml per day
8 paracetamol per day
2 of another drug every night, got a long name which I can never remember
I'm also taking a daily laxative as these shakes bung you up big time - not the best subject but the important thing when you have cancer or recovering from, it is you keep your bowels working otherwise you can get all sorts of other problems!
Anyway, back to our appointment;
They are very pleased with the progress I have made, and he explains it's now all about the second phase of recovery and really pressing on with that. the good news is that the "leak" test was good enough that I can start drinking "sips" of water - for me this is a massive step and not one you would really think of being that important, but trust me it is, one reason is you know you are moving in the right direction albeit small steps, the other is to get the muscles in your mouth and throat to start working again.
There is still a lot of swelling but as this goes down so it will all become easier, it may take 6 months but its going in the right direction.
Finally some good and not so good news - The got the whole tumour, the cancer has gone, which is a huge relief and if I could drink it would have been worth a glass of champagne - will just have to wait to celebrate that
The not so good news is they found an 8mm tumour on my thyroid gland, but they have emphasised this is not an issue that it can be managed and a decision can be made as to treatment once I am over this current battle, so we'll park it, move on until we need to face the music on it, so no need to worry I have confidence in the Prof. as I am sure if it was a problem he would deal with it quickly
But the important news is my current cancer is gone and that is worth knowing as I can start to rebuild my daily routines, doing my work, get back in the gym, walk my dogs, socialise more with my grandkids and the rest of my family, go off on our family holiday which we've been worrying whether I would be able to go or not, but Prof. gave the green light and said it would be a good break which I agree with - so off to France at the end of August, on the train so should be nice a relaxing 👍
I see the Prof. again in a month, will have further scans in a couple of months and I now pick up with the speech therapist who will help with my swallowing, drinking and eating, so this is the next stage to bash through
No comments:
Post a Comment